Article

2003-07-16 Latin America

Cuba accused of jamming US television programs to Iran

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Posted by Steve 2003-07-16 12:48:17 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 More info, I must have missed this story:
Late Friday, however, three sources associated with the broadcast services confirmed that Loral Skynet, the operator of the Telstar-12 satellite used by the broadcasters, had determined the jamming was probably emanating from âthe vicinity of Havana, Cuba.â One of the sources said that Loral, working with transmitter location expert TLS Inc. of Chantilly, Va., had further fixed the location as â20 miles outside of Havana.â Cubaâs main electronic eavesdropping base, at Bejucal, is about 20 miles outside of the Cuban capital. The base, built for Cuba by the Russians in the early 1990âs, monitors and intercepts satellite communications. Iran and Cuba have had increasingly close relations over the past several years with Iran supplying Cuba with oil. Cuba has extensive jamming experience, regularly interfering with the signal of the U.S. government-financed TV Marti. The Farsi language broadcasts, by the Los Angeles-based ParsTV, Azadi Television and Appadana TV, are uplinked in the US via Telstar-5, which is over the United States. They are then turned around at the Washington International Teleport in Alexandria, Va., where they are joined by the VOA broadcast and uplinked again to Telstar-12 over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is the Telstar-12 uplink that is being jammed, say investigators for companies working with the broadcasters, cutting off broadcasts not only in Iran but in Europe and the rest of the Middle East as well. The jamming could emanate from anywhere within the satelliteâs uplink footprint, which covers all the Eastern United States, the Caribbean and South America, say investigators. In the past, the Iranian government, using high-power transmitters on towers in cities such as Tehran have been able to jam it locally. The fact that TV viewers elsewhere canât see it was the first hint that the jamming was happening on this side of the Atlantic.Loral, which operates the satellite, declined comment on what it is doing in response. But in a letter that Loral Skynetâs Peggy Courter sent to Atlanta DTH, which manages the satellite services for Azadi, was quite clear in laying out its findings. The interference, it reported, had begun at 5:35 p.m. EDT on July 5, which was just after midnight in Tehran and shortly after the VOA began its broadcasts.
After running a series of tests, wrote Courter, âSkynet concluded the interference was caused by a third partyâ and asked TLS to investigate. TLS was able to find the âprobable source of the interferenceâ on Friday afternoon, identifying it as Havana. âThe jamming appears to be linked to the anniversary of the student uprisings,â said one investigator for a company working with the broadcasters who preferred to remain anonymous. âItâs malicious, not a prank. For us, it began yesterday, continues today. Not only are the Iranian signals jammed, but those of other nearby broadcasters are as well. âThere are ways of determining the location of the interference,â he added. âIt is complex and time-consuming. Basically, you look at minimal interference other nearby satellites are experiencing and then you triangulate.â
As for the actual jamming, its simply a matter of aiming a strong signal at the uplink transponder on the satellite and overwhelming the Farsi language broadcastersâ signals. Said the investigator: âYou need a dish, some power, not too much. You put up a test pattern ... and do a sweep and find the transponder on the satellite you want to jam. It could even be smaller than the standard 6-meter dish. It could be a small dish with a lot of power.â BBCâs Media Monitoring Service, which provides capsules of various foreign TV broadcasts for subscribers, described the jamming as âa mysterious, interfering signal, rendering the broadcasts unwatchable.â

Posted by Steve 2003-7-16 1:00:47 PM|| 2003-7-16 1:00:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 So jam the jammer. Up the signal power of the legit broadcast until you break the jammer's lock on the transponder.

Posted by mojo 2003-7-16 1:40:59 PM|| 2003-7-16 1:40:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Not that easy. Transponders are only designed to receive a certain signal level. More than that overwelms them. If you read the story you see that the jamming signal is already high enough to affect other transponders. More power could shut down the entire bird. The satellite companies all work together closely, I think they will get together and tell Castro to stop the jamming or they shut off all service into Cuba.

Posted by Steve 2003-7-16 2:07:53 PM|| 2003-7-16 2:07:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Cuban jammer needs an EMP to scramble its innards.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-7-16 2:13:37 PM|| 2003-7-16 2:13:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 What ever happened to those E-bombs we were going to use in Iraq? This would be the perfect place to use one.

Posted by Steve 2003-7-16 2:31:58 PM|| 2003-7-16 2:31:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Wouldn't a H.A.R.M.track the signal back to it's source?

Inquiring minds whant to know.

Posted by raptor 2003-7-16 3:39:00 PM|| 2003-7-16 3:39:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 H.A.R.M. would be perfect, the sat jammer is radiating just like a radar antenna. You'd just have to tune the seeker to the frequency and let her rip.

Posted by Steve 2003-7-16 3:57:22 PM|| 2003-7-16 3:57:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 The satellite companies making a "Come to Jesus" memo to Comrade Fidel would be a good start. If he does not get the hint, then go to DOD (NOT State.....Gawd, not State) and ask for some electromagnetic or pyrotechnic help in resolving the matter.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-7-16 4:39:48 PM|| 2003-7-16 4:39:48 PM|| Front Page Top

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